Doctor Who Vs. Carry On at 65: Follow That Camel

When the Rank Organisation 
adopted the Carry On fran-

chise in 1966, they sought to

improve the low-brow image

 of the brand by removing the

famous prefix.

Released in 1967, the four-

teenth production from the

comedy stable was a parody

of PC Wren's much-filmed

1924 adventure novel, Beau

 Geste, and other French

Foreign Legion movies. The 

title was producer Peter

Roger's attempt to break into

the American market, so Phil 

Silvers was cast as Sergeant Nocker (originally written for Sid James),

his sole appearance in the series. Stalwarts Kenneth Williams, Joan

Sims, Bernard Bresslaw, Charles Hawtrey, Jim Dale, and Peter

Butterworth were joined here by Angela Douglas (in her third of

four roles) and newcomer Anita Harris. Shown on ITV3 today, the comedy featured eighteen Doctor Who cast connections:

• for Douglas and Butterworth see Carry On Screaming!
• for Sims and Bresslaw see Carry On Nurse
• for Julian Holloway and Simon Cain see Carry On At Your Convenience
• for Peter Gilmore and Gertan Klauber see Carry On Cleo
• William Mervyn [born Pickwoad] (Ponsonby here; Paragon in Carry On Again Doctor; Physician in Carry On Henry) was Sir Charles Summer in The War Machines
• Jo Rowbottom (Harem) was Mollie Dawson in The Evil of the Daleks
• William Hurndell (Raff here & What a Carry On) was Ike Clanton in The Gunfighters
• Elizabeth Counsell (Harem girl) voiced Abigail Woburn for Big Finish's The Hourglass Killers (2012)
• Edmund [Cyril Colbeck] Pegge (Bowler) was Meeker in The Invisible Enemy (1)
• Harry Fielder (Legionnaire here; Burpa in Up the Khyber; Guard in Carry On Henry; Monk in Carry On Abroad; Man in Carry On Dick) was Guard (in seven stories), Crewman (The Wheel in Space & The Invisible Enemy), Vogan in Revenge of the Cybermen, Assassin in The Face of Evil, Tigellan in Meglos, and Krarg in Shada
• stunt double Roy Scammell was UNIT Soldier and Technician in The Ambassadors of Death, RSF Soldier in Inferno, stuntman on Terror of the Autons (1), Prison Officer and UNIT Motorcyclist in The Mind of Evil, and stunt arranger on Delta and the Bannermen (1)
• for Juba Kennerley see Carry On Cabby